Established in 2006, the Keystone State Education Coalition is a growing grass roots, non-partisan public education advocacy group of several hundred locally elected, volunteer school board members and administrators from school districts throughout Pennsylvania. Our mission is to evaluate, discuss and inform our boards, district constituents and legislators on legislative issues of common interest and to facilitate active engagement in public education advocacy.

Today, there is only 1 book for every 300
children living in poverty in the U.S.

Sixty-one percent of low income families have zero
books in their households.

In Philadelphia,
83% of schools do not have a library staffed by a certified librarian. It is now common for a Philadelphia public school student to go
through elementary and middle school without ever having access to a certified
school librarian.

PHILADELPHIA — Having access to a
full-time, certified school librarian means better outcomes for Pennsylvania’s public
school students, according to new research from the Colorado-based RSL Research
Group.
The researchers examined the 2010-11 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment
(PSSA) tests in Reading
and Writing for students in grades three through 11, and tracked outcomes for
students based on five school library factors: staffing, collections, digital
resources and technology infrastructure, library access, and funding.
Overall, the greatest impact on student test scores was seen from having a
full-time, certified librarian.

• Students who have
access to a full-time, certified librarian scored higher on the PSSA Reading
Test than those students who do not have such access. This finding is true for
all students, regardless of their socio-economic, racial/ethnic, and/or
disability status.

• For several student
groups that tend to experience achievement gaps—economically disadvantaged,
Hispanic, Black, and those with IEPs (Individualized Education
Programs)—Reading and Writing results are markedly better when those students
attend a school with a librarian and library support staff, according to the
research. In fact, they benefit more proportionally than the general student
population.

School Library Information Briefings on Latest PA Research

Join the EducationLawCenter, the Health Sciences Library
Consortium, and the PA School Librarians Association for the release of
findings of the Pennsylvania
school library impact study on student achievement conducted by Keith Curry
Lance and his associates.

The year-long project
examined the investments in school library programs needed to prepare
21st-century learners and the perceptions of administrators, teachers,
librarians, and other interested stakeholders.

There are two remaining briefings:Oct.
25in Philadelphia; andNov. 15in Pittsburgh.

·It is now common for a Philadelphia
public school student to go through elementary and middle school without ever
having access to a certified school librarian.

“Today, there is only 1 book for every 300
children living in poverty in the U.S.

….Sixty-one percent of low income families have
zero books in their households.”

The Rise of Poverty and the
Fall of Education

Literacy
organization calls on Obama Administration, Congress to do more for underserved
communities across the US

Reading Is Fundamental website

Washington, DC—December
5, 2011—As 2011 winds to a close poverty levels in the United States have hit a record
high of 46 million. Poverty is the single best predictor of a child’s failure
to achieve in school, and about half of children from low-income communities
start first grade up to two years behind their peers. It is clear that more has
to be done to ensure that the nation’s neediest children are given the
opportunity to reach their full potential and end the cycle of poverty. The key
to empowering the 15 million children living in poverty is education, making it
all the more surprising that the federal government is cutting education
programs from the budget—including essential programs like Reading is
Fundamental. RIF, the nation’s largest
childhood literacy organization, is urging the Obama Administration and
Congress to restore funding for education programs.

In a digital world where many younger readers
feel increasingly comfortable downloading novels and textbooks onto their
computers or e-readers, a majority of Americans from the ages of 16 through 29
still frequent libraries.

According to a study released Monday by
the Pew Research Center, 60
percent of Americans surveyed in this age group said they still visited the
library. They use libraries to conduct research, borrow print, audio and
electronic books and, in some cases, read magazines and newspapers.

That finding would seem to clash with the
popular notion that young readers have turned away from libraries and print
books as the source of their reading material, said Kathryn Zickuhr, research
analyst with the PewResearchCenter’s
Internet and American Life Project. “A lot of people think that young people
aren’t reading, they aren’t using libraries,” Ms. Zickuhr said. “That they’re
just turning to Google for everything.”

Posted: Tue,
Oct. 23, 2012,
7:05 AM

Upper Darby art programs cling to
life after funding cuts

By Jonathan
Lai Inquirer Staff Writer

The
boys went straight to swords and weaponry, but four girls giggled in front of a
display of medieval clothing worn under the armor that glinted throughout the
rest of the "Large Armor" gallery.
"Tell me this would not look good with silver pants and silver high
heels!" one girl said. The
fifth-grade fashion critic's insight resonated with her three friends, who
nodded vigorously in agreement.

The
two-part field trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art is a rite of passage for
fifth graders in the Upper DarbySchool District. The
museum program, uninterrupted for more than three decades, now survives only
precariously in the face of state funding cuts.

This
marks the second year without funding from the district. Last year, the museum
itself covered the program's costs, and money for this year's visits came from
a $20,000 grant from the private Ethel Sergeant Clark Smith Memorial Fund. The
Art Museum applied for this year's grant with the support of the school
district.

Budget
deficits have led the school district to go from trimming fat to cutting the
meat of programs in areas such as the arts, physical education, and libraries.

Democratic
Chairman of the Pa. House Education Committee Jim Roebuck discusses charter
schools, which don't accept all students -- which is often a problem for
special-education students.

“I think the charter advocates are wrong
about the effect of competition. There is no evidence that charter schools are
superior to traditional public schools, nor is there any evidence that the
spread of charter schools has prompted public schools to improve. Instead,
parents in cities like New York, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia are being pitted against one
another as they fight for space, while educators in charters and traditional
public schools work in isolation from each other. We are spending so much time fighting over charter schools
and so little time working to improve our public schools where the vast
majority of children are still being educated.”

Beyond Charter Schools: Thinking About Public
Education's Future

In thinking about your last entry I've been
taken by how frequently charter schools have come up in our exchanges so far
when so few children in the United
States are actually enrolled in them.
Although there are a few places where charter schools now enroll a significant
percentage of the students (Harlem and Albany, N.Y., are two places that come
to mind), across the country less than 5 percent of all students are in charter
schools, and several states don't even allow charter schools to be created.

Charter and cyber schools will have to start
paying a fee for former EastonAreaSchool
District students who want to play sports for
their home team.

The school board passed an amended policy
Tuesday mandating charter and cyber schools reimburse Easton for costs associated with students who
return to play on district athletic teams, including the storied football and
wrestling programs. Easton
will determine the reimbursement rate based upon the sport's cost per student
during the previous year, but the district may not make a profit from the fee.

Athletic director Jim Pokrivsak requested the
reimbursement fee in January, saying he was receiving an influx in requests
from cyber and charter school students. At the time, the district said the fee
could vary from $200 to $600 depending on the sport and the costs of
transportation, coaches, officials and wear-and-tear on athletic facilities.

Easton sends cyber and charter
schools nearly $10,000 per student and almost double that for special education
students. Athletes can still play Easton
sports as long as they meet try-out and academic standards and their school
doesn't offer the same sport. But if a cyber or charter school fails to
reimburse the district for athletic costs, students will lose the opportunity
to play, according to the policy.

“While
the court agreed that email doesn't become a public record simply because it
was sent from a government address or is stored on a government computer, it
said messages in which board members discuss school district business are
public records regardless of whether they deal with actual decisions by the
board.”

Pennsylvania residents can read the
email of elected officials under a decision in favor of The Morning Call
recently upheld by the state Supreme Court.

In January, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ordered EastonAreaSchool District to turn
over a month's worth of email messages to and from the official email addresses
of school board members, the superintendent and the district's general email
address.

The court found that emails to and from
individual members of the school board are records of the school district's
activities under the state's Right to Know Law. The Supreme Court's decision
last week not to reconsider the case means that the Commonwealth Court opinion will apply to
similar cases in the future.

MAEA discussion on
charter schools: 'fix public schools first'

Hazelton Standard Speaker BY JIM DINO (STAFF WRITER) October 23,
2012

State legislators
debated whether charter schools are real alternatives to the public education
system or a safer haven at a recent roundtable discussion held by the
Manufacturers and Employers Association.
State Rep. Neal Goodman, D-123, MahanoyCity,
said charter schools have changed since they were introduced, and are not
needed anymore.

"It was supposed to
work in conjunction with public schools, to meet the demands the public school
cannot meet during the regular school day," Goodman said. "Ninety-six
percent of our public schools are performing above and meeting No Child Left
Behind, while only 60 percent of our charter schools are meeting No Child Left
Behind. There is a myth that charter schools are these wonderful, special
schools that have the key to education. They are going through the same
struggles that public schools are. It's grown into privatization of public
education, and we can't afford it."

New CharterSchoolResourceCenter
helps school boards assess information on charters

NSBA’s School Board News
Today by Joetta Sack-Min October 15, 2012

With the rapid growth of
charter schools and their increasing implications for traditional public
schools, theNational School Boards
Association (NSBA)has
launched theCharter School Resource Center,
an online resource containing practical information and research to help state
school boards associations and local school board members respond to charter
legislation and policy in their states.

AmbassadorCenter (I-90 & Peach Streets in Erie, next to the Courtyard by Marriott)
Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children
and The Education Policy and LeadershipCenter

SUBJECT:

Why Investing in Early Education Matters, Even in These Difficult
Economic Times

Share school district
successes and challenges in supporting quality learning experiences. Hear from
local school districts and early learning providers about how they have
worked together to maintain early learning as an integral part of the school
districts' overall goals. Learn how quality early learning can contribute
positively to a community's economic success.

Share it

About Me

Mark Twain: "God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board."
--------------------------------
School Director, School District of Haverford Township, since 1999;
Chairman, Delaware County School Boards Legislative Council;
Founder and Co-Chair, Southeastern Pennsylvania School Districts’ Education Coalition/Keystone State Education Coalition, Board of Directors, PA School Boards Assocation
-------------------------------------------
If you have any feedback or links to articles that might be a good fit on this blog please email me at lawrenceafeinberg@gmail.com
Thanks!